Poll: Do you have any permanent aikido-related tattoos on your body?

AikiWeb Poll for the week of December 3, 2006:

Do you have any permanent aikido-related tattoos on your body?

• I don't do aikido
• Yes
• No
  

Here are the current results.

A small tattoo of the kanji Aikido...

Formed like this:

i'm getting osensei's calligraphy for "masakatsu agatsu katsuhayabi" on my forearm, with the circle and dot sign (the name of which i've suddenly forgotten) above it. i'm probably also getting a triangle, circle and square on the back of my upper arm (also on the right arm) eventually.


fun!

Thanks for those descriptions. Saves me from asking. To unskew the results of the poll - i voted no, but I have no tattoos at all. (Can't count the discoloration from a piece of windshield in my chest)

dave

Thinking about it... Trying to decide on what I want... just kanji... kanji and background... what... Thinking small on the back of the shoulder.

Yes, but it is located at places where the it will never see sunlight

Boon.

Xu Wenfung wrote: Yes, but it is located at places where the it will never see sunlight Boon.

Go on Boon, you can show us, we are all friends here

regards,

Mark

Kanji for masakatsu agatsu in a copy of Osensei's handwriting on my right calf.

I voted no, I have no tat's but I'm really thinking about it. "Reiseishin" I think would be my aikido related tattoo, a copy of my sensei's caligraphy.

Tattoos have always made me think of children who write and draw on themselves when they first discover ink pens or magic markers. It is a vain attempt to keep something; like when a photographer takes a photo of lightning or a sunrise or sunset; or of anything, for that matter. In aikido we have "ichigo,ichiei": this one moment will not come again.

In gassho

Mark

Mark Uttech wrote: Tattoos have always made me think of children who write and draw on themselves when they first discover ink pens or magic markers. It is a vain attempt to keep something; like when a photographer takes a photo of lightning or a sunrise or sunset; or of anything, for that matter. In aikido we have "ichigo,ichiei": this one moment will not come again. In gassho Mark

I can understand that. Every time I open the same book, the story inside might seem different, or I might find something that I missed before, because a different man is reading it each time. I think that is part of the reason that I'm glad I got the tattoo in the first place. When I look at it, sometimes I think of the "me" that no longer exists.

Mark Uttech wrote: Tattoos have always made me think of children who write and draw on themselves when they first discover ink pens or magic markers. It is a vain attempt to keep something; like when a photographer takes a photo of lightning or a sunrise or sunset; or of anything, for that matter. In aikido we have "ichigo,ichiei": this one moment will not come again. In gassho Mark

This is a fairly limited view of art. I dont have any tats, nor do I have the inclintaion to get one (I am too cheap and lazy to care), but cant this argument be extedned to say that painters are just like kids who write on walls, and scluptors are like kids who play with play dough? This would be a very ungenerous comparison I think. I personally dont like art (by art I mean speciffically painting/photography/sculpture/the theatre/etc atlthough I do not include music in this list). It doesnt get me off, but I dont sweat other people who do get off on it, or get off on mediums that I dont understand. Just seems like a jerk off thing to say Mark. Also, I used to run with a crew who had tats all over their bodies, yeah faces too, and they werent trying to be vain nor were they trying to "keep" something that has passed the instance in time that is NOW . I would like for you to clarify your position for I do not buy that photographers are trying to "keep" something that happened in an instant in the past. I would argue that they are meerly trying to use mechanical reproduction as a means to create 'art' (and no I am not currently prepared to define that term, although it may become necessary later).

I think I can clarify my position this way: Some people look at reality and exclaim, "it looks just like a picture!" Other people look at a picture and mention that it looks like a real picture.

In gassho

Mark

Mark Uttech wrote: Tattoos have always made me think of children who write and draw on themselves when they first discover ink pens or magic markers. It is a vain attempt to keep something; like when a photographer takes a photo of lightning or a sunrise or sunset; or of anything, for that matter. In aikido we have "ichigo,ichiei": this one moment will not come again. In gassho Mark

So you have no pictures of your kids, parents or other loved ones? You don't have any keepsakes or mementos that bring to mind days past? I am sincerely impressed if you can truly live completely in the moment.

Bronson

I've got Aikido in kanji on the back of my right forearm. I'm glad I got it because I know Aikido
will be a permanent part of my life! It's also a good conversation starter. Somebody is always asking what it means.

Bronson Diffin wrote: So you have no pictures of your kids, parents or other loved ones? You don't have any keepsakes or mementos that bring to mind days past? I am sincerely impressed if you can truly live completely in the moment. Bronson

I do not know of anyone who lives completely in the present; at the same time, I do not dwell on the mementos I have. As the Buddha said: "This is because of that; that is because of this: but not always..."

In gassho,

Mark